


A cat may look at a king

by orphan_account



Series: proverbially postcanon [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Canonical Child Abuse, Cat Puns, Dissociation, Gen, M/M, Minor Character Death, Past Child Abuse, Past Relationship(s), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, by which i mean: vriska is at it again, re: dirk and jake
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-07
Updated: 2016-11-07
Packaged: 2018-08-29 18:32:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8500666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: The new world on your old planet is off to a bad start.





	

**Author's Note:**

> ok dirk's internal voice is unexpectedly hard to capture?
> 
> part of a series on what would happen post-canon, with the addition of all the parents/guardians coming back as well.

==> Be Dirk

Your name is Dirk Strider, and the new world on your old planet is off to a bad start.

It doesn’t seem that way immediately. Everyone has landed pretty spread out, yourself included, so you get to crane around to try to figure out if any of your friends are near, and to notice the large number of trolls you don’t know. The contents of your sylladex are scattered at your feet, and you kick an empty bottle out from under you.

Thirty seconds in, your eyes fasten on a troll you know from Dave is named Vriska moments before she rips out Caliborn’s throat.

That’s when the pandemonium sets in. Vriska is dragged off of him almost immediately, but she’d aimed well. Caliborn dies in a quick gurgle of blood. Apparently he hadn’t come through with his powers intact.

(Honestly, this should have been your first warning.)

You make it onto the scene pretty quickly. Karkat is snarling at Vriska oddly, a low growl emanating from his throat. She is pinned still with strange glowing electricity.

“Did anyone else get through that shouldn’t have?” he snaps toward the group at large.

“Not everyone is right here,” says Rose, your ecto-daughter. “We won’t know until we gather everyone together.”

“What is this?” a man demands. You nearly double take at him. “Where am I?”

The man is old, and wrinkly, and distinctly resembles Jake and Jane. And John.

Something in the back of your head starts clicking together.

Rose seems to be getting somewhere, too. “Um,” she says, hesitating, looking as though she isn't sure what to do with this uncertainty. “Mr. Crocker?” she asks.

Half of your brain thinks, _Jane’s Poppop_. Another quarter wants to look around for your bro — not Dave, your actual relative from centuries before you were born. And the last quarter seems frozen, trying to fit warped puzzle pieces together.

“What is this place?” Jane’s Poppop demands again, and you spin on your heel and look around. In the near distance are a pair of figures, a man and a woman, you think. Your gaze skipped right over them.

You don’t see Dave anywhere.

Something cold and slimy curls in your stomach. “Where’s Dave?” you ask abruptly.

A troll, glowing the same colors at Vriska, says, “We’re all over—”

Jane is at your elbow. “Roxy is over with Calliope and some of the girl trolls,” she says. “But I haven’t seen Jake yet, either.”

“Does it matter?” asks Rose, as Terezi and another mystery troll barrel onto the scene.

“If Jane’s grandfather is here,” you say, “and if those people over there are you and Dave from my timeline…” Finally the words fall into place. “Then your timeline’s families will be here too. _I’m_ here somewhere.”

Karkat’s head swings over to you in blank incomprehension for a moment. Then his growl changes pitch abruptly. He scrambles up and back from Vriska, scans the area more wildly than you did.

Someone is loping in your direction, a troll hunched low to the ground. As soon as she’s in earshot she’s wailing, “Karkat, Karkat, Karkat—”

Karkat runs to meet her and you follow.

“Nepeta,” he says urgently, “have you seen—” 

She grabs his arm and tows him forwards. “He said to get you,” she says, and the three of you book it towards a copse of trees.

 

* * *

 

==> Be Jake.

You are scared out of your mind in a way that you have no experience dealing with.

The fellow you just met recently, talkative and friendly with a particularly odd sense of humor, is collapsed on the ground, and you are holding both your pistols on someone who looks frighteningly like Dirk.

You don’t let your hands shake. Not even a little.

Not-Dirk has his arms crossed, his face blanker than you’ve ever seen it, even in the worst of the times you’d spent with Dirk. He’s leaning against a tree as if this were a casual meet up between friends, but his gaze on you and Dave is icy. 

“Stay where you are,” you say. You hope that the little troll girl will return shortly. Even against your guns, unarmed, Dirk can be a better fighter than you. You really don’t want to test that against Not-Dirk.

There’s a crunch of leaves and a hair-raising shriek. You almost shoot from pure instinct, but it’s Karkat, lunging out of the trees at Not-Dirk, who, somehow, unbelievably, side steps. Karkat slinks down against the ground like a wild beast, growls, skitters forward a step. Not-Dirk looks down at him coolly, not flinching, even when Karkat feints another grab at him. You hastily bring your pistols back up.

“I’ll shoot!” you say.

Behind Not-Dirk, a shadow moves just a little, and Dirk, the one you know, slides his blade against Not-Dirk’s throat.

Not-Dirk goes stiff.

“Yeah,” Dirk says. “I wouldn’t try moving.”

The troll girl steps out as well, and pulls out some rope. She tells you with a toothy smile that it _nefur hurts to be prepawed!_ You nod and politely ignore the puns and the oddness of the whole situation! Dirk shoves his doppelgänger against a tree none too kindly. In fact, he does so rather roughly, and jerks Not-Dirk’s arms back to be bound behind the tree with distinct ungentleness. The two of you work well together, and with girl’s help you have him immobilized in moments. 

Behind you, Karkat is murmuring to Dave, repeated phrases and careful words. Uncomfortable, you try very hard not to listen.

“Thanks for fetching help so fast!” you say to the troll girl instead, faking brightness in your tone. “That was right quick.”

Frankly, it had felt like an eternity. Dirk is now searching all of Not-Dirk’s pockets and patting him down.

“It’s no problem!” she chirps at you. “I’m Nepeta, by the way.”

“And I’m Jake,” you say, and extend a hand.

She pokes it and grins. “You know Karkat already, but who’s your furiend?”

“Dirk Strider,” Dirk says without looking over. Looking at him sends a pained jolt through your stomach, which you ignore. It wouldn’t do to make a fuss here. The two of you had actually talked for a moment, not too long ago.

“Stride-fur. Stripe-der,” she says thoughtfully.

“Will one of you stay and make sure he doesn’t escape?” Karkat says abruptly. “I’m taking Dave somewhere else, but I want Terezi to know about this, too.”

“I can tell Terezi,” Nepeta offers.

“I’ll stay,” Dirk says. Seemingly satisfied that his other self isn’t carrying any weapons, he settles on the ground with his katana across his knees.

“Great,” Karkat says. “English, if you don’t mind, I may need help with Dave.” His tone makes it very clearly not a request.

Though you aren't immediately sure what help Karkat could require, you step forward to join him with only one last glance back to the two Dirks. It quickly becomes clear that Dave can't walk very well on his own, so both you and Karkat take one of his arms across your shoulders and slowly wend your way away from the trees.

Dave, who had seemed so capable, who you had watched fight and snark and chatter with his friends in the past few days, dragged his feet and stared ahead with an emptiness that Dirk’s impassiveness couldn’t compete with.

“Dave,” Karkat said. “Are you still listening to me, Dave? We’re going somewhere else now. You right arm is being touched by me, Karkat, and your left arm is being touched by Jake English. We are walking towards some rocks, and then we’ll sit down. Dave, can you hear me?”

“Would it be terribly presumptuous to ask—” you say, unable to hold back any longer. You think that if Dave is noticing anything outside of his head, then surely he feels the tremors in your body that are finally catching up with you.

Karkat glares at you, you’re sure, but he responds. “Talking to him like this helps him stay grounded in reality. Dave was not well treated as a child."

Dave shudders in response to that. His hand suddenly clenches down on your arm, and then he jerks himself away from both of you, staggering forward.

Karkat is by his side instantly, talking to him quietly. Dave shakes his head in response to whatever he was asked, and Karkat looks over his head and makes a clear gesture of dismissal. 

You wind your way back to the group, feeling very shaken and afraid.

 

* * *

 

==> Be Terezi

Your moirail has just killed someone again. You stare down at both the Dirk Striders with a familiar sense of helpless fury.

It’s with two children in mind, both of them powerless to the horror of their parents, that you make the first arrest of the new world.


End file.
